May 6, 2015 By Christian Murray
The developer of the Queens Blvd. property where the movie theater was located has told the owner of PJ Horgan’s that he will not be renewing his lease when it ends June 2018.
PJ Horgan’s is the remaining tenant on the large Queens Blvd/43rd Street lot that is being developed. Center Cinemas, Dime Bank and a local dentist are all gone.
John Ciafone, who plans to develop the site, is building on top of PJ Horgan’s in order to construct a 5-7 story building with about 60-70 apartments and ground floor retails.
Ciafone said that he reached out to the owner of PJ Horgan’s, John Murphy, after a small kitchen fire last Tuesday and “told him not to invest too much money in the place.”
He said that he told the owner, John Murphy, that he would not renew the lease and that he would compensate him if he leaves the property.
PJ Horgan’s has yet to reopen since the fire. Murphy could not be reached for comment.
Ciafone said he is about two-to-three months away from getting the demolition permits he needs in order to start bulldozing the corner building.
“I thought this would be moving along faster,” he said.
Ciafone said he expects that the corner will be demolished in less than a month.
Featured Events
42 Comments
Goodness you guys love to rant at each other. End of the day that’s a helluva lot more apartments in a neighborhood already struggling to handle the influx. The 7 will be even worse and expect Manhattan prices and higher in the new services offered. Lock in your leases now.
Visited this very pleasant bar on a trip from the UK in 2007. Very sad that it’s being shut down. I’m afraid that dodgy practice’s go hand in hand with property development. It’s the same in London, bad things are allowed to happen when the right palms are greased. That’s just the way capitalism works.
keep adding all these lovely apts but not the basic infrastructure. fantastic sell to say its walking to the train and access to shops but 1) 7 is so crowded you cant get on. 2) rents so high no more local shops like PJs. how are they getting permits to build without upgrading the basics to accommodate the new movers?
Sounds like Sunnyside will become a congested city like Arlington, VA
Isn’t this bar the 2nd oldest in the area? I’m surprised that’s not mentioned. Not that history of the area means anything when money can be made by developers targeting hipsters (who will pay a million for an apartment no matter where it is)
I object the landlord does not care about our hood
THE POLITICANS ARE LETTING ALL OF THIS HAPPEN – FOLLOW THE MONEY
Where’s JVB denouncing the destruction of his beloved neighborhood?
Here’s a link of just one article:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/de-blasio-critized-donations-worst-landlords-article-1.1443915
I think the people of Sunnyside should band together and rally before our “Mayberry” like community becomes another urban metropolis of large skyscrapers!
So sad!
bulldozing beloved sunnyside businesses to make way for what’s most likely going to be shoddy and overpriced apartments, nice.
we all knew the gentrification of sunnyside was not a good thing. Here is the result. stuff people in, forget about what they need, just keep stuffing them in
You still here Sunnysideposthatesme17!!! I thought you were waiting for a buyout from your landlord to leave?? Guess your handout is not coming!!
BLAME ALL OF THE POLITICANS FOR THIS WHOLE BIG MESS AND THAT INCLUDES JIMMY FOR SURE — AND PLEASE DO NOT SAY IT IS NOT TRUE BECAUSE IT IS —
@Angela Another fact free chest pounding rant. Thank God for the anonymity of the internet or you could really embarrass yourself you uninformed chest pounding blowhard. Post at least one fact you waste of time.
We all knew this was gonna happen the developer wants that whole area.
So, how about a story about the developer’s unscrupulous past? That would get you a hell of a lot of clicks. And do this town a favor, too, instead of basically running landlord’s press releases.
John Ciafone is very, VERY bad news for our beloved neighborhood. He has lists of violations as long as my arm, uses his wife and “Broadway Stages” as shell companies, and gives heavily to political campaigns to get his lousy construction overlooked. This is not good news. Fortunately Van Bramer has not received money from him, and DiBlasio returned his check. He and Broadway Stages are shoddy, unscrupulous developers.
http://www.newyorkshitty.com/tag/john-j-ciafone
As someone who knows a thing or two about dirty money, you should know DiBlasio actually did accept money from him through an intermediary. That is a 100% verifiable fact. Research it!
Don’t you have short stubby arms? I am sick of selecting bread and ice cream. I’m not writing in with my witty comments anymore!
and I am sure Jimmy has accepted money also — it would not be the first time Jimmy has accepted money —
@Angela “you hear stories and people say” are not reliable sources. of news and information. You’re a Fox News repeating idiot.
So by giving them a heads up not to waste their money by investing too much into the rebuild because they’ll be gone in 36 months due to the property owner renewing the lease is “putting the squeeze on”? Got it! Not like they could use that money they were going to use for repairs as as down payment on another property here in Sunnyside or anything…
Careful…logic like that might start to make sense to some of the “good old days” dinosaurs roaming this board. Then what will they moan about?
I think that was nice of the landlord to let him know! Clearly, he can build his building right over PJ horgans with no problem since he will be starting construction soon. He could have said nothing and collected the rent while building the new building and then not renew his lease anyway. To say that putting the squeeze on them is some bad reporting!!
Exactly and he is also compensating them too — people only want to listen to what they want to listen too
@Angela when are you going to give the Fox chest pounding blowhard routine a rest? Do you know anything about the compensation being offered? Please share it blowhard since it’s not mentioned anywhere on the Sunnyside Post only in your posts. The only detail about compensation in the article is some form of compensation will be offered if and only if Horgan’s does not renew. How much money will offered or is no money being offerd? Will they relocate the business? So tell us the rest or at least provide just one detail in one of your chest pounding information lacking posts.
Oh no! PJ Horgan’s atmosphere and aesthetics is so unique it’s a shame they have to vacate the property.
thats what happens when you rent and dont save your money,,,,,they probably had plenty of opportunity to buy the building but chose not to.
rikki you’ve said here before that you rent from an elderly couple. so put your money where your mouth is!
its called having good people skills….one benefit is a much lower rent….you should try it sometimes
This developer is taking all the retail to turn into more apt on the ground floor?? That’s not good.
I thought it said *with* ground floor retails. So there will still be shops. Unless I’m reading it wrong. “construct a 5-7 story building with about 60-70 apartments and ground floor retails.”
yeah, the only places that can afford retail in these condo buildings are banks, and Rite Aids. we have plenty of both!
You can only build a mixed use building. Zoning regulations only permits retail on the first floor typically so the developer most likely will build an apartment building with grade level retail. You cant have residential on grade.
I still think that kitchen fire was suspicious.
Just like the “truck” accident hitting the marquee at the theatre then disappearing
There needs to be a thorough investigation. This fire is totally suspicious.
first of all the fire department and the police department are already investigating this and second of all PJ Horgan’s is being compensated if you read the article correctly — what is the use of fixing up a place when the owner of the property has already told you that he is not going to renew the lease —
@Angela I can’t be sure which post you are responding to since you didn’t direct your response to anyone. The only thing I am certain of is you’re the one who didn’t read the article “correctly”. First of all the article makes absolutely no mention of any investigation. 2nd the article said nothing remotely close to your quote “PJ is being compensated”. The article said ” He said that he told the owner, John Murphy, that he would not renew the lease and that he would compensate him if he leaves the property.”
He said that he told the owner, John Murphy, that he would not renew the lease and that he would compensate him if he leaves the property.
this is word for word from the article —